The guy I failed to characterize!

You would have heard infinite number of stories about the Mumbai locals, stories inside the train, about the people travelling in the train, stories about various political debates happening in the train and what not. I was using the local train for some fifth time, and by now I was getting used to the local trains, now I didn’t need to ask anyone about which platform should I be on to catch the train to Churchgate. Infact, now I could guide a newbie to the local about which platform to board the train from. I never liked the hustle and bustle of the city, and always tried to keep myself away from Mumbai as much as possible, but these connecting trains and long journeys, I couldn’t avoid the city. And even after visiting the city very often since last few months, I was still at apathy with the city. I didn’t care much about the city. But what kept me excited in the city is the stories every frame in the city said. Yeah frames. I was seeing the city in terms of frames I could pause and capture in a photograph. Sometimes I’d mentally add the various additions I’d add using photoshop and make the frame more exciting. Some frames told their stories loudly some frames didn’t have any character and still told a story about someone, in some frames I made up assuming the characters. It became an exercise for me to characterize people or things around me and weave stories around them.

One person I always failed to characterize was the guy in square black specs. I was meeting him for the first time. I never thought I’d be able to meet him at the busiest railway station of Mumbai while I was waiting for my train to my next destination. I failed to characterize him because he is very much different from everyone I knew so far. He has a very beautiful soul. His smile could spread smiles like happiness. I failed to characterize him because I never wanted to. Because I never wanted to share his story with anyone else. Because this was the beauty I’d want to keep it for myself.

Before that day, I had never seen anyone travelling two hours in a Mumbai local train to meet someone for the first time. We knew each other since some years, and didn’t want to miss this chance to see the virtual friend in person. Though we were meeting for the first time, it was more like we were good old friends and were meeting after some time. Railway station isn’t the best place to catch up with your old friend, but that’s the starting point! Typically railway stations are the spot where I start my journey from. And this was a beginning of a journey within a journey. I still remember my smile reached my eye after seeing him on the station walking towards me. We talked and talked about the good and bad, and why we didn’t like the city and why we didn’t have any other option. Living in different parts of the world, being in the same city at same time wasn’t a coincidence for me. Though we called it a coincidence and continued talking. I learned something more about him during the conversation and tried to use that new information to characterize him and I still couldn’t. I thought I’d use some of the information for the story. I was looking for some thing more. My train arrived and the time was getting shorter. I really wished that the train was late and I could get some more time with him, because I didn’t know when next would this coincidence happen. I was getting my favorite chocolate, sharing it with one of the favorite people of mine. I was overwhelmed with the amount of attention I was getting. That was a beautiful noon I had. When the train was preparing to leave he said,

“Aarzoo, I don’t know how you feel, but I feel like kissing you right now!”

I replied him with a kiss.

I didn’t know what to call that kiss, a goodbye kiss on the doors of the train, or just leave it unlabeled. I then decided to leave this kiss uncharacterized.